We were given a gift card to Alburtis Tavern, which was the perfect excuse to go check out this interesting little nook. When walking in, we noted that there was a train theme going on. Then our host offered to seat us by a window so we could “have a good view of the train when it went by.” I thought maybe there was some cute local train or… I don’t know…something special. Instead, we saw a standard freight train go by. This. is. GENIUS. Some restaurateurs would be upset by a train track so close to their location. Not this one. No. This crew capitalized it and made it sound like “getting a chance to see the train” was a bonus. Brilliance. And I totally bought into it. Yay train!
So, we’re in our booth and we’re waiting for the train. Might as well eat something, right? Well, unfortunately we had to settle for train watching, as it took nearly 10 minutes for us to get greeted by a server… But once she arrived, she was pleasant and attentive. We had just come off of the Christmas holiday and were in a “oh, why not, what’s another 2,000 calories” kind of mood. We decided to go for the A Lil’ Bit O’ Everything starter ($12.99): onion rings, spicy mac n’ cheese bombs,mozzarella wedges, buffalo chicken pierogies, and bacon and cheddar potato skins. Why the 
heck not. Overall, the plate was pretty darn tasty. Can’t go wrong with fried goods. The onion rings had a light batter and were tender- none of that “whole onion coming out with the first bite” business. The mozzarella moons were fried cheese. So. That was cool. The potato skins were the winner for me, smothered in cheese and topped with thick cut bacon. The mac and cheese bites were tasty, but not mind-blowing. They were kind of tot-sized, and I would have preferred a greater mac to breading ratio. The low point for me was the buffalo pierogies. For some reason, they were battered and fried, the inside was pretty dry, and there just wasn’t much flavor. I love pierogies, so this made me a bit sad.
Not deterred by the pierogies, we moved on to Course 2, the Chubby Hubby ($14.99). I’m not making this up. It’s a double burger with LTO, pickles, cheese, and onion rings. We were sharing it, so it was basically like one regular burger each- right?? Overall, this was a great burger. The patty had good texture, flavor, and char,although it was a bit on the greasy side. There was a ton of cheese- never a bad thing. The bun was nice and soft- typically I like my bun toasted, but I think if they toasted this one, it would have been too hard to bite through this behemoth. I actually ended up deconstructing mine a bit- but I made sure to get bites of the onion ring along with the burger because that really made the whole thing. The waffle fries seemed like they were lightly battered (which you may know by now is not my favorite), but were basically your standard seasoned waffle fry. Didn’t hate them, just not my preference.
Giant.
Chubby.
Hubby.
So overall, the Alburtis Tavern was a pretty cool place. Especially if you’re in a devil-may-care place with your calorie count. There are some lighter options, but most of the salad include fried chicken, cheese, and/or bacon, so… you know. Is it gourmet or super unique? No- but I would definitely return for some fried goodness.
Food/Drinks: 15.5/20
Service: 7.5/10
Total: 23/30